County Parks » Ledge View Nature Center » Programs/Pricing

Cave Tours

Special rates are available for schools and groups (12 or more people) April through November. Students grade 3 and up learn about some physical geology and wildlife. Students grade 7 and up are challenged by Mothers Cave. Teachers and group leaders should call for reservations: 920-849-7094.
Scheduled public tours visit Carolyn’s Caverns ($8 per person) or Carolyn’s and Mothers Cave ($10 per person), May through November. One tour is offered most weekends and some summer weekdays.

Would you like to come?

The only access to the caves is on a naturalist-guided tour during a scheduled visit. Because the public tour size is limited, reservations are recommended.

Visitors enjoy Ledge View's cave tours for the opportunity to get down and dirty, as well as for the geology, but how dirty you get is up to you. This is what you can expect on your tour:
A naturalist will take you on a half-mile walk through the woods to the cave. Down a ladder you'll enter the damp, cool darkness, and learn the geology that produced caves in such a weird place.
Carolyn's Caverns has both large rooms with plenty of head room and crawl passages. The naturalist will provide opportunities for crawling during your tour.
The typical tour lasts about two hours, but you're never far from an exit, should you need to leave.
Be prepared for uneven floors, and bring a flashlight. Because the floors are natural, there is dirt and sometimes mud puddles, so wear sturdy old shoes or rubber boots.
Those who'd like more of an adventure can take the Carolyn's-Mothers tour, which concludes with a belly crawl through Mothers Cave and exit through the Squeeze. Wear layers and old clothes for this, and expect to be dirty from head to toe, afterward! A knit cap helps protect the head from bumps.
Kids and the kids at heart can have a blast exploring passages on a tour. Kids should be supervised by an accompanying adult, and they need to be able to use ladders safely-- they should not be carried.

Snowshoeing

Ledge View rents snowshoes for self-guided in-park use, and offers public winter ecology hikes (on snowshoes) as well as school and group education programs, December through February.
Special rates are available for schools and groups (12 or more people). Rates include snowshoe rental. Students can learn about winter animals and plant adaptations, in addition to experiencing snowshoeing. Call for more information and reservations.
Scheduled public hikes $5 per person, includes snowshoe rental. Check the calendar for the schedule

Want to try it?

Bundle up and wear your winter boots!
Ledge View has both wood-framed snowshoes for soft snow and aluminum-framed snowshoes with “teeth” for icy conditions.
Snowshoes can be rented for self-guided in-park use during business hours. It’s a good idea to call ahead for snow conditions and staff availability.

Maple Sugaring

The public is invited to participate in the process on Maple Syrup Sunday, Ledge View’s open house and pancake breakfast. Learn how it all works and help tap trees and collect sap.
Ledge View offers a backyard maple syruping workshop each March, for adults interested in the details of the process. (It’s a sweet hobby!)

Special rates available for schools and groups (12 or more people) February and March. Ledge View’s program covers Native American and pioneer sugaring history and some plant and animal biology. The program is ideal for elementary grades. It concludes with real maple syrup on ice cream. Call for more information and reservations.

Curiosity calling you?

In our part of the state, the sap can run anytime between January and April. The temperatures decide, not us! However, we run our program in late February and through March because those months are a good bet for seeing sap drip. Sometimes it’s snowing, sometimes it’s raining, sometimes it’s sunny. The sap actually runs better when we have a low pressure system.
It’s also the time of year when the first moths and butterflies appear, the voices of the first migrating birds are heard, and the first chipmunks are seen aboveground.

Sedimentary Geology

Special rates available for schools and groups (12 or more people). The middle of a continent may be a strange place to learn about the sea, but the rocks tell us that’s what used to be here. Students learn about sediments in water and evidence of past life. They can conclude with a visit to the park’s quarry and some fossil-hunting (fossils should not be removed from the quarry, please). This program is offered April through November. Call for more information and reservations.